UPCOMING EVENTS

The Apple Music subscription service is now available for Android devices.

The new Android app is free at the Google Play store as of today. It will work on devices running Android 4.3 or higher.

Android users can do the same 3-month trial period the iPhone people got, then decide whether or or not to pay the $9.99 monthly subscription fee.

Apple’s music service directly competes with Google Play Music, which also costs $9.99 per month, but Google apparently wants Android users to have the option.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, recently said his company’s music service now has 6.5 million paying customers, with 8.5 million users in a trial period.

For Apple, launching an Android app is a bit of a no-brainer. Android, the most popular mobile operating system in the world, represents an opportunity for Apple to dramatically increase the subscriber count for its music service.

Apple needs its new music-streaming service on Android in the same way it needed iTunes on Windows PCs. There is too much profit to be made, and too many cross-platform competitors such as Spotify — Apple simply can’t ignore Android.